During a celebration Monday night for the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America, Mary Powers was honored in a surprise ceremony for her 50 years of service with the Girl Scouts.

State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, presented Powers with a resolution passed by the state Senate honoring her years of service, and Alyssa Gracia, representing Mayor Thomas Hoye, presented a similar resolution on behalf of the City of Taunton.

“I’m overwhelmed. I had no idea. I should have realized when my daughter came,” said Powers. “...You just do what you do. With Girl Scouts, you do a lot of community service, and it just becomes a way of life.”

Powers’ daughter, Margaret Dutch, principal at South Shore Vocational Technical High School in Hanover, traveled from her home in Bourne to support her mother.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” said Dutch. “I’m very proud of her. She deserves it. She’s earned every bit of it.”

Pacheco, who remembers Powers working with the Girl Scouts from his childhood living on Benefit Street in Taunton, was glad to honor Powers at Monday’s ceremony.

“She’s just a real outstanding individual,” said Pacheco. “...She has really given a tremendous amount of her personal time, and she’s just a very, very special person. She’s just a pleasure to know, always has a smile on her face and she’s as beautiful inside as she is outside.”

“There are literally thousands of women over the past 50 years whose lives have been positively impacted as a result of Mary Powers’ intervention and service,” he aded.

Celebrating

100 years

Monday also marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts of America, and troops across the world held ceremonies to recognize the milestone.

As part of the celebrations, every Girl Scout troop in the world stopped all their activities, gathered in a Friendship Circle, and recited the Girl Scout’s pledge exactly at 7:12 p.m. (19:12 military time).

The Girl Scouts of America was officially founded on March 12, 1912.

“There’s a big 100-year celebration going on from now through June,” said Lisa Borges, service unit coordinator for Taunton and a Brownie troop leader. “Today is the biggest celebration... It’s the biggest that they’ve had probably in 50 years, or ever.”

Girl Scouts troops can be found in 145 countries across the globe, with 10 million members worldwide, according to Borges.

On Monday, 10 troops and more than 130 people — including 75 Girl Scouts — crowded into the Portuguese-American Civic Club to celebrate the centennial.

“This is really the first time we’ve had all the Girl Scouts together for a Girl Scout promise, so it’s really a good event for them,” said Mary Giovanoni, who joined the Girl Scouts in 1954 and has been a leader since 1980.

The girls then learn about each country and find ways that they can help. This year, the Girl Scouts of America chose to focus on Japan, Russia, Guyana, the Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

History of Girl Scouts

Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America on March 12, 1912 in Savannah, Ga., with 18 members.

In the fall of 1912, Emma Hall organized the first troop in Southeastern Massachusetts in New Bedford.

Girl Scouting came to the Silver City in 1913 or 1914, according to Roberta Shafer, former staff member as Girl Scout Museum curator.

“The first troop in Taunton was at the Winslow Congregational Church, that used to be where the Church of All Nations is,” said Shafer. “They used to go to camp at Camp King, which was near where the airport is in East Taunton.”

In Taunton, the Girl Scouts started out as a small neighborhood council, and most activities were contained within the neighborhood council, according to Powers.

“Gradually, neighborhood councils became city-wide councils, and then you knew everybody,” said Powers.

“From the Taunton Neighborhood Council, it became the Plymouth Bay Council, and it encompassed the entire Southeastern Massachusetts,” added Giovanoni. “After the Plymouth Bay Council, it became the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Massachusetts. Now we are the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.”

The satellite headquarters for the Taunton area was first located in Whittenton, moving to Winthrop Street in Taunton, and finally to its current location in Middleboro in the 1990s.

Powers’ service

Beginning in the 1940s, the history of Girl Scouts in Taunton has been inseparably tied to the career of Mary Powers.

“I was in Whittenton when I joined,” recalled Powers. “...I was a member until the eighth-grade, and then I dropped out. I lived in Whittenton, and you had to go downtown, which was a big deal.”

Powers became involved with the Girl Scouts again when her daughter Margaret became old enough to join. She became a troop leader in the late 1960s, followed her daughter through the Girl Scouts as a troop leader and hasn’t left since.

“When you’re a Girl Scout leader, you get to know the kids, their parents. With my daughter, I got to know all of her friends. It’s really a wonderful experience,” said Powers.

Over the years, Powers has been involved in countless community service projects; served on the Camp Edith Read Camp Committee, the Plymouth Bay Girl Scout Museum Committee and the Diocese of Fall River Catholic Scouting Committee, among others; and in the 1970s and 1908s, hosted a multi-age troop with young women who had intellectual and developmental disabilities.

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It was these years of service for which she was honored on Monday.

“This resolution is now a part of Massachusetts’ history, just like Mary Powers’ years of service,” said Pacheco while presenting the resolution. “Her history is now a part of Massachusetts’ history.”